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4/30/2013

Good evening fellow bloggers. Finally I was able to get a card finished. I have several in various stages, and it seems that when time is available, I'm not in the mood...or if I'm in the mood, then something else gets in the way until my motivation has subsided. Does that happen to you? Anyway,
here's my card for this evening.

4/27/2013

Good evening Friends, and thanks for hanging in there with me while I've been goofing off! After we got the sick pc home, hooked back up, DD flew up for a few days. Needless to say, visiting with her got a higher priority than anything else around here! <g>. We had fun, did some shopping - going out to eat, just having some good family time.

Today I had a super great class getting my Intermediate Copic Certification. Wonderful teacher, Cindy Lawrence (here). Learned some different & more complex ways to shade, assess light sourcing, and a bit of 'color theory'. It was held locally -for me anyway- so no hotel bills. It was totally worth the cost of the class, and I left feeling as though I had learned a good bit that I hope will enhance my copic skills. It had been a while since I had the Standard Certification class, so some of the techniques being taught now, were different from the way I had learned.

Hopefully I will be able to get back on track with making some cards - sigh - as we'll be going away beginning next Sunday. First a family reunion on my Dad's side of the family, being held at his Home Place (Southern speak for where your family roots are - and actually where he was born at home) - about 2 hrs away from our area. Then we're planning to leave the reunion, head to Washington, DC to meet our best friend, and see some of the sights in Washington. Primarily the Smithsonian. We've been several times in the past, but it was always a 'time limited' visit. This time we have 4 days, so I will be perfectly happy to visit a different section of the museum each day. As DH says, I have to stop and read every word on every sign at an exhibit, so I don't get through a museum as fast as most people do. <g>. So I gotta get at least a couple cards finished to post. Don't give up on me....I'll eventually get back in the groove.

Until then, have a Blessed Sunday, and enjoy whatever it is that you might have planned. Come again to visit & we'll 'sit & chat a spell'. Now that I have my Fav Bookmarks back, I can get back to visiting you as well. As always, thanks for stopping in tonight , and many hugs.

4/19/2013

Good evening Fellow Bloggers. Between sick computers, messed up cookies, re-learning to find things on XP, trying to find camera software to load onto XP & Laptop, I have been MIA. Not doing any cards either. (But THINKING about doing some!Does that count? It's called planning). I did get out on one of our very pretty days and take some pictures. Mainly to make sure I had something in the camera to download, once I found the software cd, got it loaded, remembered how to work it! My Win7 pc has a card reader ?port?, so for several years all I do is pop out the tiny disk from the camera, slide into the card reader, and Wham, there are the pictures to import. I had to do some relarnin'. And folks, lemme tell you, it warn't easy! So here's the pictures of some things bloomin' around our yard.

The purple Iris is/?are? a clump of very old bulbs that came from my aunt's yard in another state. The original bulbs were likely planted sometime in the mid-50's, when she moved into her house. I got these when a relative dug up a large clump about 10 yrs ago, just before my aunt passed away. These are the most blooms we've had to date.

4/15/2013

Hello and welcome. If you read my post of yesterday, you know that my computer is ill so I'm using an older computer to do 'business'. The one we normally use, has a card reader port, so that I can just slide my camera memory disk into the slot, and import the pictures. The XP that I'm using at the moment, doesn't have a port, so I have to hunt up the camera software, install it, etc. etc. I know the software cd is somewhere around here...Anyway, I was just checking email, and read something with a link to this really neat & welldone Youtube video about gelatos. It's yet another way to use this product, and one I will definitely try myself. For those who left questions about exactly what a Gelato is, this shows the product really well. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNH_-Bjwa_g&feature=youtu.be

If you can't get this link to open, go to Youtube and search for

Flowers with Gelatos by Darlene
DeVries

I hope the link works so that if you have time, you can check it out. In the meantime, thanks for joining me. Hope to get things all fixed up and back to normal business soon.

It's DH's birthday. Mine is in 2 more months, so I asked him if 69 felt any different than 68, so I can get prepared if need be. He said "Yeah it does". Hmmmm...

4/14/2013

Happy Sunday afternoon. I'm having pc problems...my windows 7 computer is misbehaving, my XP computer is slow, and my laptop is slow too. On the Win7 pc, my guru thinks it is a driver problem, because at first it was intermittently freezing up, today I am having trouble even getting it to boot. So fired up the XP, and that one seems to not want to skip quickly to my sites I'm trying to get to (one of which is my online banking so I can pay some bills!), and is just super slow at loading anything else. Got the laptop online and it's just as slow. We lost our cable last week (which means no phones, no internet either at that time), so don't know if this is something with the provider, my router - or some other problem. Then Google won't let me edit my yesterday's post to make a correction. Mr. Blogger ain't likin' me either. <g> I wanted to make a correction to the Inky Fingers link with the gelato butterfly of yesterday; this morning, my brain remembered it was this site by Debbie Olsen where I saw the gelato technique. I get a lot of inspiration from Inky Fingers too, so though that was where I thought I saw the gelato post. Then I could not find the specific post at Sue's, so put in her main blog link. Both of these blogs are terrific for getting card inspirations... At Debbie's post, she has a picture of what the gelatos look like. I've had several questions so I'll try to snap some pictures of what I used and post when I get the computer problems sussed out. I believe Gelato is a product name, and I used those marketed by Faber Castell. There are some good Youtube videos showing this product; Jill Foster would be a good one to google. The stamp was easily cleaned after applying the gelatos, and uncapped applicator has a glue stick type of consistency. Or a chapstick/lip balm. Very creamy, much more so than a crayon. As I said in the previous post, I did 4 stampings with basically one application - but in places where the stamp didn't appear to have what I thought was 'enough' of the product, I'd just dab on a bit more in that area, spritz it again, stamp it on the paper. The very first stamping was quite vivid, and very pretty. Each generation got a bit lighter. The one that I used for the butterfly I posted, was the 4th stamping.

Hope this further clarifies anything I wrote yesterday, and also apologies for the incorrect blog link! Chalk it up to senior moments. I may not get back to visit anyone who leaves me a comment...I have email on the WIN7 pc, that I can't pull into my XP pc or the laptop, so please bear with me. When I get things squared away again, I'll try to answer those emails if I can recover them. Doncha jes' luv when ya got pc woes...or car problems...or house problems???Guess that's jist life happenin'. Have a great afternoon & Hugs. Be back when I can! <g>

4/13/2013

Hi and I'm back with a totally experimental card. I've had gelatos for some time, never used them. Also had some of the Dylusions sprays, ditto. A stamp buddy is really into this Dylusions stuff, and doing some fantastic work; at our last gathering, she brought some supplies and we watched her create. So....little Miss Copy thought "let me try that"...although my friend does a lot of Altered Art, which I don't (and expect I shall not either!). So Thursday at our meeting, I took some watercolor paper, some sprays and just for grunts - grabbed up my container of the gelatos. I was not very adept with the sprays & stencils. Much too heavy handed and I got basically blobs...not very pretty blobs either! Then Miss Friend showed me how to ease up on the spray pump, spritz the paper, and watch the blobs run. Pretty (not as pretty as HERS of course, but better than with the stencil). OK, I'm finished with that trial, so I got out the gelatos. I had recently seen a post by Sue at Inky Fingers where she used the gelatos direct to rubber. I just searched for that particular post so I could link directly to it, but can't find it at the moment, so I'll describe what I did. Thanks Sue, for giving me the how-to's, and the inspiration.

4/12/2013

Good afternoon, and I'm here with a card I intended to get entered into Outlawz Friday Copic/Promarker Challenge, but alas, once again, I am too late. I see I could still link but I think the April Showers theme closed awready. I'll share the card here and I do believe I may use it as a Father's Day for DH. He likes frogs...and I think this one is cute. He can just use his imagination to decide which one of us, is getting the shower.

- image is Penny Black, Frolicking Frogs, colored with copics on Xpress. Used a bit of Glossy Accents on the puddle & raindrops. Also hit the shower with a Stardust Silver Star pen prior to the Glossy Accents...so IRL it's quite sparkly- diecut image with S/binders Labels 4, sponged with Memento Summer Sky while still in the die- matted with Paper Studio Linen door - a 4.5x6.5 pack - and this paper looks a bit like 'grass paper', diecut with S/Binders 5x7 Detailed Scallops. I liked this lacy, grassy look behind the frolicking frogs- cardbase made with the Grand Labels S/binder 4, on a turquoise shade of textured Bazzill. I tried some other blues, but liked this one best. I still have room for a slim-line sentiment at the bottom of the card.

I hope that you're having a pleasant Friday afternoon in your part of the world, getting ready for a relaxing or fun weekend. I understand that some of my blog buddies have a wonderful stamp show to attend this weekend. So have a grand time, don't buy anything I wouldn't like!!! Hugs to all who visit here. Come again soon.

4/10/2013

Hello & welcome to my corner of Upstate SC, where there is a beautifully sunny & pleasant day. Our little Redbud tree finally burst into blossom - seemed like overnight (or maybe I was just missing a look at it for a couple days!). So a picture of that will come after my card.

This card is pretty much a total SNIPPET card (that sounds so much nicer than saying Scraps, doesn't it?).

4/09/2013

Hi There from the beautiful South Carolina Upstate region, where we have yet another gorgeous day. Yesterday it got up to 81 in our area, but I hear rumors that another cold front could move through. Oh well, Spring is definitely making headway. I'm ready for it.

I selected my card today to fit the theme of the Penny Black and More Challenge Blossoms and Bows. I remembered I had this cute Penny Black slapstick stamp - uninked - and hunted it out. It was a joy to color, so you will very likely see it done as another card.

- image is Penny Black slapstick - Dreaming Bunny; colored with copics on a snippet of Xpress paper. (used YG colors along with a touch of E family colors on the bunny. YR (an orange-y family) on the terracotta pot. Of course reds & greens on the flowers & foliage)

- green bow was a snippet of ribbon sent as a Thank you from a vendor when I got an order. The ribbon was just long enough to do a little bow.

I think I'll enter this little Bunny at the Penny Black and More Allsorts Blossoms and Bows, as well as jump over to see what those Foxy Playground ladies are up to. Ya'll have a fun afternoon, now heah? Come again when you have time to visit. Hugs

4/08/2013

Good Morning Fellow Bloggers, and I hope your Monday is off to a lovely start. Once again, we have a beautiful day outside, with temps going up towards the 70's today. Since I was too late for the last Craft Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge 118 (I misplaced my image, was too late to enter, blah, blah) I got busy and created this card to meet Challenge 119. Without further palaver, here's the card:

4/07/2013

Good afternoon, and our area has another lovely Spring afternoon. Pleasant weather, sunshine, still have a bit of coolness in the air though. Last evening I gathered some tools that I use & occasionally mention here; thought I'd snap a photo, and share pictures, just in case some readers may not know what the items are. Hope this will help if you read about one of these tools in my post.

These are some of the different stamp cleaners that I use. I've found that the Kiss-Off is great for cleaning stained rubber stamps when nothing else will get off the grunge. I've not used it on clear or red cling, just on my red rubber mounted on wood. Think it would probably be ok on the red cling, but not sure I'd try on the clear. (But it might be ok- I've just not tried it.). This is a tube - similar to a glue stick. Rub it over the stamp, dampen an old toothbrush- scrub the stamp. Works up a lather, then clean it off. Wipe down with a damp cloth. May need several applications for a seriously stained stamp. Works well for me. I've recently found this product in Hobby Lobby, in the Art Section. I suggested to the craft department manager, that it should also be placed in their stamping section. I purchased mine at a Stamp store. (at H/L, you can use a coupon!) I put the Judikins cleaner in a smaller spray bottle, then spritz the stamp when I've finished, wipe on a dry pad. I've also used this on new stamps - or stamps purchased off eBay, to condition the red rubber. Grandma's cleaner is just spritzed on the stamp or on the cleaning pad, then wipe stamp, clean with a pad dampened with water, dry rubber. The big box stores in the US have this product. (There's a similar product used to clean laundry stains too, which I use, and find it works very well). I also have a spray bottle with water mixed half with Simple Green (an all purpose, strong cleaner) and use that on a folded rag. When I finish stamping, I set the stamp over on that pad until I can clean it. Also having just plain water on a dampened pad, is a good thing to have handy, set the stamp on until you can clean it properly. I usually have an old terry wash cloth, folded, quite damp, in a disposable plastic TV meal tray, & set my stamp onto that until I can clean it. I like to keep my stamps as clean as I can.

4/06/2013

Oh Happy Saturday! The sun is shining, it's about 70 degrees outside & a lovely afternoon. My kind of day. Hope it's just the same where you are. Welcome, and here is my card to share today. I'm starting a new category - All Occasion - which will be for anything I don't need right at the moment, and will get 'whatever' sentiment I need, at the time it is appropriate. <g>

- cardbase is SU Old Olive, diecut into a cardshape with Grand Decorative Ovals One, #2 from the smallest size. These dies were made for use in the Grand Calibur - which takes the large size - but most of these will work in the Big Shot usually, except for the very largest in the set. Somehow I've managed to order a duplicate of this particular die!

4/05/2013

Hello & I hope you have a nice cup of coffee (tea or something else cozy) and we can sit for a little chat. I seem to get stuck on certain types of cards for a while. Right now it's birthday as I have quite a few coming up soon. Today's card is getting the Birthday label, but just as yesterday, it will depend on the sentiment I add later. At least the card is almost ready to go.

I got a couple of the new Spellbinders last week from Oozak, so tried out one, that I really liked. (forgot the wax paper technique, so had to do a bit of picking to get it to release. Operator Error, I think it will be ok next time). I also tried a little paper piercing again around the oval opening, and after I saw the results, sort of wished I had left it off. It's more difficult to do that around a circle or an oval & keep it 'even' --but I'll learn. I used a SU piercing template to do this. It's straight, so I had to curve it around the oval as I worked. Hence, some holes not placed as straight as I would like.

4/04/2013

Good morning, and I hope your Thursday has started out great! And a warm welcome to a new follower from Orlando. Lovely to see another Fla. gal join me here.

I've been experimenting lately with a brayer & some plastic wrap, so my card today is one of the results. This was my first effort using instructions from MaggieC.http://silvercrafter.blogspot.com/. I posted my 2nd effort earlier, in the palm tree card done in peach tones.

I'm labeling this as a Birthday card, because I have quite a few masculine birthdays coming up, but it could be used as a Father's Day card (or for that matter...another occasion depending on the sentiment used). I have an Elizabeth Craft die for Happy Birthday, so I could diecut the sentiment in some shade of yellow & pop over in the lower right corner. Yellow might emphasize the touch of yellow I added around in the scene.

4/03/2013

Hello & good afternoon. I see Blogger added a new number to the followers' list, so when I checked, I think I see it is jnburretta..If I have the name correctly, thank you so much for joining here, and if you can, please let me know your 'name' and if you have a blog so that I can pay a visit. I also add my followers' names to an Excel spreadsheet so that when I do blogcandy again in the future, I can be sure to include everyone.

For the card share today, I did some alcohol ink playing on a piece of acetate salvaged from cutting apart a Spellbinder packaging (?snippet?). I had an old greeting card - and this one was very old, it was found in an old book we collected somewhere along the way...I'm guessing it may have dated to the 50's or 60's - just from its appearance.(perhaps qualifies as another snippet)! I was going to toss it, because it was very grubby. Then decided I could fussy cut just part of the front motif, where it was still ok. This happened to be a sort of abstract rose motif. I cut it out, tested it behind the alcohol inked piece of acetate. Liked how it looked when I placed it between the pink cardstock & the acetate, so hence this card.

- sentiment diecut was sponged with SU Regal Rose using a small finger sponge dauber. Added some tiny pearls to tie in with the brads.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot...I'm using a card that was purchased in a set of 10 from a discount store (The Dolloar Tree). These have been here forever, so might stretch a point and call this base a snippet too. <g>I thought this would come in handy as a card base, but the front of the card is not all that pretty. I have to cover the inside with some decorations too. It makes a nice sturdy card! Because of the brads, this one will be hand delivered. Actually even the brads came out of my stash. I had bought brads when I was first accumulating stuff supplies, but seldom use brads because of the postage issue. I only used them here, because I couldn't find the vellum tape to adhere the acetate to the cardbase without having it show.

I think I'll be off to the Playground, see what's going on ...I'm hearing that our UK friends in some areas have seen Mr. Sun out & about. Think I'll check out that rumor. Love to have you come along! Have a wonderful afternoon. Hugs

4/02/2013

Good evening, and I'm back again today. It's been a lovely afternoon, so after having a little late lunch we decided to take a ride 'out in the country'. Our area is really very pretty, still have plenty of rural areas where it is possible to see green fields, fields that are getting plowed up for spring planting, blooming Bradford Pear trees & lots of other species that I don't know what they are. It was just a pleasant afternoon to ride around. After we got home I walked out on our back deck & snapped a couple shots of what is going on around my house. I've mentioned the snowy tree that I see outside my window as I'm typing up the blog, so thought you might enjoy seeing it. Our neighbor is elderly, and there's a lot of 'stuff' in his yard, right next to ours, and he doesn't take the care that he needs to. I hate to complain about it, as I know he's elderly. (well, we are too, and have enough of a time tending our own!). So here goes:

This was taken about 5:30 pm, and the western evening sun is shining through the tree branches. Lovely to see, not as pretty as it looks in the morning hours though...the sky is no longer that intense blue we refer to as Carolina Blue.

Hello and thanks for joining me for a little visit. Yesterday I mentioned that I had done some experimenting with brayering, wet plastic wrap & stamping. It was a fun technique to do. I got the instructions from MaggieC (http://silvercrafter.blogspot.com/) so this will be just a brief how-to. Used glossy cardstock, brayer, several colors of ink (I used Kaleidescope, but Miss Maggie said Adirondacks, Big&Juicy pads also work well). Brayered my colors (I'm still trial & error method with this at the moment); then took a piece of plastic wrap, spritzed it with water, smoodged it around over the brayered piece...removed all to a place where it could dry for a few hours. Made an Absolutely Lovely background. Here's one that I've made into a card.

4/01/2013

Happy April 1, blog friends! No April Fooling around here though. We have a most lovely day outside my window, and I can spy a lovely pinky-white tree blooming in my neighbor's yard. I think it is what we call a Flowering Cherry tree. There's a Carolina Blue Sky in the background, and some more green trees behind the cherry tree, so a very pretty sight to behold.

Mrs. A - the winner of the blogaversary candy - contacted me with her mailing info, so I removed the picture of the candy from the sidebar. Now just gotta start building a stash for the next milestone. Am wondering "what shall it be?". I'll think of something.

A while back I had an email from a very talented crafter MaggieC. She very kindly sent me instructions for doing a brayering technique, then covering the brayered piece with plastic wrap to create a background. I finally got a little time (and was in the mood too!) to follow her instructions. I came up with some pretty pieces, but don't have 'em made into cards yet. Well, I wasn't pleased with my stamping results, but I WAS pleased with the technique. It was definitely a case of Operator Error (on my part!) and it's something I'll try again with a different stamping ink. You'll see my results as soon as I get cards made up! So thanks MaggieC for the instructions and a pleasant evening experimenting! :-)